Special Topics in Environmental Policy and Culture (390-0-20)
Topic
Human Rights and the Environment
Instructors
Kimberly Ruggles Marion Suiseeya
847/491-8985
Office Hours: http://www.polisci.northwestern.edu/people/core-faculty/
Meeting Info
Scott Hall 319 ExperimentalLab: Tues 9:00AM - 11:50AM
Overview of class
ENVR_POL 390-0-20: Human Rights and the Environment
In 2022, the United Nations declared that everyone on the planet has a right to a healthy environment. Yet, our word faces a multitude of complex, intractable challenges: climate change, biodiversity loss, desertification, and extreme poverty, to name a few. In this research seminar, we will explore the confluence of human rights, Indigenous rights, and environmental change to explore how contemporary global, international, and domestic politics intertwine to shape our collective futures. We will study how different rights regimes, such as human rights, Indigenous rights, and the rights of nature have emerged, examine what impact they have on our environment, and consider the extent to which these global rights are realized. This course is divided into two parts, the first focusing on understanding the relationships between human rights, Indigenous rights, and the environment and the second on analyzing politics. Course requirements include active participation, short writing assignments, and an original research paper.